Pepper. Aimee Harper

isn’t ready?” she said, biting her lip.

      Suzi took Bella’s hands. “It will be,” she insisted. “Trust me, love.”

      Bella gazed into her mum’s eyes. They were kind and warm and brown, just like Pepper’s. Pepper wriggled in between them and rested his head on Bella’s lap.

      Suddenly the box they were sitting on broke. Towels and plastic containers fell out, adding to the mess on the floor. Pepper yelped and ran through the door which led up from the parlour to the flat upstairs. Louie roared with laughter, and so did Suzi.

      But Bella didn’t.

      There’s no way Dream Dogs will be ready to open next week, she thought with a sigh as she bent down to pick up the mess. Mum must be crazy!

       Two A New Friend

      Bella opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling. For a minute, she couldn’t remember where she was. Then it all came back to her. Sandmouth. Their new home town!

      She sat up and sniffed the air. It smelled salty. Dream Dogs and their flat were only two streets away from the beach! She felt a rush of excitement that blew away all of yesterday’s worries. You couldn’t be upset near the sea.

      “Are you up yet, you two?” her mum called from across the hallway. “School today, remember?”

      This was Bella and Louie’s second week at their new school, Cliffside Primary. Bella jumped up and pulled on her uniform. Her new school sweatshirt was still soft and fleecy, and she liked the purple colour. She felt a bit nervous though. Everyone had been nice to her last week, but she didn’t have a best friend yet. She really hoped she’d find one soon.

      “Purple’s for girls,” Louie grumbled, getting out of his bed on the other side of the room and putting on his uniform like it was made of slime.

      “Maybe we should start calling you Lulu!” Bella said cheekily.

      She pulled her head through her sweatshirt and reached for her hairbrush. Soon, her chin-length brown hair was straight and neat. Louie didn’t bother with his brush. His hair stuck up like hedgehog bristles, no matter what he did.

      “Pepper’s determined to catch his first wave today,” Suzi told Bella and Louie as she put some bread into the toaster.

      Cliffside Primary was down by the seafront. They had to walk along the beach to get there. Pepper hadn’t got used to the sea yet, and chased the waves as if they were rabbits. But he hadn’t got his feet wet once. Bella patted him on the head.

      “You were a bit rubbish at catching waves last week, weren’t you, Peps?” she grinned. “Were the waves too fast, or just too scary?”

      Pepper sneezed and licked Bella’s hand.

      The toast popped up. Suzi hooked out the slices with two long pink-painted fingernails. All of Suzi’s clothes were pink today, Bella realised. Even the silk scarf in her long brown hair.

      “You’re very pink today, Mum,” Bella said.

      “Pink is the Dream Dogs colour,” Suzi said dreamily, admiring her nails. “I’m going to be a walking advertisement for our parlour. In fact, I’m thinking of getting some Dream Dogs T-shirts printed. Pink ones, of course, with the lettering just like our sign. What do you think?”

      “I’m not wearing one,” Louie said.

      Suzi stroked Louie’s bristly hair. “I was thinking more like a uniform for me to wear in the parlour,” she explained. Then she gasped.

      “Overalls! Yes. Pink overalls, with the Dream Dogs logo. Then I can get as wet as a fish and it won’t matter a bit!”

      Bella frowned. She didn’t know much about overalls with special logos, but she guessed they took a long time to make.

      “Shouldn’t you have ordered them already, Mum?” she asked. “If we’re opening next week, I mean?”

      Suzi pulled a face. “I suppose you’re right,” she said. “Never mind. I’ll order them now and they’ll just be a few weeks late.”

      Bella felt all her worries coming back. Her mum was so disorganised. She could never do anything on time. The ironing. The phone bill. Nan’s birthday present last year. It was impossible to believe that Dream Dogs would be ready. The opening party would be terrible. No customers would come.

      The Dream Dogs dream was turning into a nightmare!

      Fifteen minutes later, Bella, Louie and their mum were walking along the beach to school. Pepper sniffed under a row of beach huts and charged at the waves. His tail was wagging hard.

      “Come on, boy!” Bella called.

      Pepper backed away from one last wave and trotted over to Bella.

      “Nice dog,” said a voice just behind her.

      Bella turned round. A tall girl with long blonde hair had appeared beside her. Bella recognised her. They were in the same class at school.

      “Thanks,” Bella said shyly. “His name’s Pepper.”

      “I’ve got a black dog,” the girl said. “He’s called Snowy.”

      Bella giggled. “Seriously?” she said.

      “Yes,” the girl grinned. She had smiley blue eyes. “I guess I have a weird sense of humour. I’m Amber. You’re Bella, aren’t you?”

      Bella nodded.

      “Have you just moved here?” Amber asked.

      Bella nodded again. Then the words just came out.

      “My mum’s got a dog-grooming parlour called Dream Dogs,” she said.

      As soon as she’d said it, Bella wished she’d kept quiet about Dream Dogs.

      “Wow!” Amber said. “You lucky thing. It must be brilliant. Do you get loads of dogs in all the time?”

      “It hasn’t opened yet,” Bella admitted.

      Amber’s face fell. “Oh!” she said.

      Bella really didn’t want Amber to be disappointed. She had high hopes that Amber could be her new best friend. “It’s opening on Saturday,” she said quickly. “We’ve got a bath for the dogs and special hairdryers and potted plants and music. Everything’s pink, and our sign lights up. It’s like a hairdresser’s, but better.”

      What was she doing? Bella knew she was telling lies, but she couldn’t stop.

      “Fantastic,” Amber gasped. “Have you given Pepper a makeover yet?”

      “Not yet,” Bella tumbled on. “But we’ll give him one soon. Mum’s ordered this special lavender dog shampoo.”

      “Can I bring Snowy one day?” Amber said eagerly.

      Bella felt sick. “Come to the opening party on Saturday,” she said. Why couldn’t she stop? “It’ll be fantastic. There’ll be loads of people there. And snacks for dogs too, of course.”

      “Brilliant!” said Amber, her eyes sparkling.

      “Amber!”

      A woman with blonde short, spiky hair and a large black spaniel was waving at Amber.

      “Hurry up!” the woman called. Her voice got a bit lost in the wind. “We’ll be late!”

      “Gotta go,” said Amber, starting to trot away. “Mum needs to get to the shops before school. Dream Dogs sounds really cool! I hope we can come on Saturday! See you in class. I’ll save you a seat!”

      Bella watched Amber run off